A spokesman for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton today acknowledged a "peaceful protest" and said some had gone on hunger strike and others had engaged in self-harm.

An Egyptian asylum seeker is believed to be undergoing medical treatment on Manus Island after swallowing razor blades in a protest against his detention.

The 39-year-old man reportedly stitched his lips together on Tuesday, but health workers convinced him to remove the stitches and accept medical treatment in exchange for a phone call to his sister in Sydney.

The man's sister, Samar, has told the ABC that he explained to her why he joined the protest and swallowed the razor blades.

"When he talks with me yesterday, I asked him what happened, he said, 'I took razors' and he's sewing his lips. I asked him why you take this bad thing?" she said.

"I said to him, 'You're not to die' and he said, 'Yes, I want to die'.

"He said to me, 'All my body, it's white and my legs are blue'."

He also complained about the conditions on Manus Island, telling his sister guards had threatened to rape and assault the asylum seekers if they do not stop their protest.

"There are security people say to him, 'If you didn't [go] back to room, I will make sex with everyone over there or bring people from PNG to come to hit everyone and make sex and bring the police from PNG [to] hit everyone'," she said.

A small number of transferees have engaged in self-harm. They have been offered appropriate medical care.

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton

"Make every refugee over there scared."

The man, who arrived at the Australian-run detention centre on PNG's remote northern island in December 2013 after being held on Christmas Island, has a teenage daughter that also lives in Sydney.

Samar said she was desperately trying to find out his condition.

"OK, he still alive? My brother still alive or not? I want to know. Please tell me," she said.

A source at the main hospital on Manus Island said they had not treated anyone who swallowed razor blades and Manus Island MP Ronnie Knight said the man was being treated at the detention centre's in-house clinic.

"The one fellow who swallowed razor blades, I believe that they were the plastic-coated ones. So, how bad it is for him, I don't know. I don't think it should be too bad," he said.

"It's not like he's swallowing flat razor blades and the heads of the big razor blades."

The man is believed to be part of Egypt's minority Christian community, fleeing religious persecution.

The ABC spoke to an asylum seeker who said he translated for health workers treating the man who said his health began to deteriorate rapidly.

"His body become white, his skin become totally white ... and his leg ... become blue, so terrible," he said.

'Transferees have engaged in peaceful protest'

The claims could not be independently verified but it came as other asylum seekers sewed their lips together in acts of increasing desperation.

"A number of transferees continue a peaceful protest within the Manus Regional Processing Centre," he said.

"A small number of transferees have engaged in self-harm. They have been offered appropriate medical care.

"There are also a number of transferees who are now refusing food and fluids, again they are being offered appropriate support.

"The Australian and Papua New Guinean governments remain committed to the regional resettlement arrangements."

Officials from the PNG government were not available for comment.

Detainees being 'pushed to point of desperation'

Mr Knight said he sees similarities between these protests and the ones that preceded deadly riots at the centre in February last year.

"Why is it going like this? They're being looked [after] out there pretty good," he said.

"It's not ideal, but the Australian Government and the people looking after them should be a little bit more lenient and a little bit more to understand what they're going through and maybe move a bit faster or move in a way that will make them - if they can't look after them, they have to send them back, send them back.

"Don't hold them there indefinitely. Some of them have been there for nearly two years now and they are human beings."

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said warning signs were being ignored.

"No-one rationally self-harms without being pushed to a point of desperation, to the brink of feeling as though they need themselves to mutilate," she said.

"This is serious. These are human beings, some who are refugees, who are suffering inside Manus. It's time for the Australian Government to be upfront."

A notice posted on social media said equipment providing water to the Regional Processing Centre had broken down.

"For transferees, this means that you can't have showers today but you can continue to use the washing machines [which use a different system to provide water]," he said.

It noted that staff would not be able to wash clothes or shower until the problem was fixed.

The Immigration Department on Wednesday said: "Limited water restrictions are in place at the centre, but water production is meeting the centre's needs.

"Supplies of bottled water are readily available."

Another problem adding to tension on the island was the reported lack of pay for locally-hired guards, under the control of Wilson Security.

Almost a year ago, local guards, support staff, police and residents stormed the detention centre, beating Iranian Reza Barati to death and injuring dozens of other asylum seekers.

As of December 31, 1,035 men remained in detention at the Australian-run facility on Manus Island.

The processing of applications was taking place and the PNG government had said 50 men had been given refugee status and would soon be moved to a separate transit centre on Manus Island for language lessons and job placement.

However, some asylum seekers said they did not feel safe resettling in PNG and feared attacks by locals.